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HEMAN S. LUCAS, OF CHESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

Letters Patent No. 64,233, dated April 30, I867.

IMPROVEMENT IN PREPARING FUEL FBOM' GOAL DUST AND FRESH-WATER PHAT.

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Be it known that I, HEMAN S. LUCAS, of Chester, in the county of Hainpden', and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Preparing Fuel from Coal Dust and Fresh-Water Peat; and I hereby declare that the following is a description of the nature and operation of my invention.

The invention herein described is an improvement upon one for which a patent was granted to moon the second day ofAugust. 1864, numbered 43,695. In the specification of the patent aforesaid I described my invention as a preparation of fuel from coal and pea-t, consisting in'the combination of peat and pulverized coal, the two components being thoroughly mixed and compressed so as to be formed into lumps or cakes suitable for transportation and use. In that specification I stated that in the operation of mining coal vast quantities of coal dust and fine coaLcollect which are thrown aside as useless, and that there exist on the lines of many of the railroads of the country vast peat fields, which peat is but little used for fuel on account of t-liedifiicul-ty of compressing it, aiid that the purpose of my invention therein claimed was to bring these two substances together, and, by intimately mixing and compressing them, to produce a new and valuublefuel out of materials; which are now considered comparatively worthless.

In the use of peat from fresh-water swamps or meadows, as a material for combining with fine ceali OF-G'QGAL slack, particularly that of anthracite coal for fuel, I have found the objection that upon combustion of' lumps o-ir cakes composed of those two materials, the peat is burned before the anthracite is consumed. To overcome this diflicnlty I have combined the coal slack with marine peat, or that particular form of peat found insazit marshes, for \\'hich invention I-havc applied for a patent. In my application for the patent for the last. invention I stated that this material, whether because composed of plants of wholly distinct species from those which have formed fresh-water peat, or because of the saline particles contaiziel therein, or the silt with: which it is mixed, I have found to burn less freely than the fresh-water peat." My subsequent experiments have shown me that the combustion is retarded by' the presence of saline particles, and this observation lei-la me; to adopt-the process for retarding the combustion of fresh-water peat when mixed with fine coal, which process I will now describe.

In preparing the mixture of fresh-water peat with coal slack, I apply to peat and Goal, either before or at the time of kneading them together for fuel, a bath of salt water from the ocean,or a saturatml solution of common salt or'chloride of sodium, or mix the crystallized salt with the coal and peat in a sulfi'eient quantity to retard the combustion. The effect of this application of the salt to the prepared fuel of fresh-water peat and coal slack is to prevent the burning out of the peaty portion before the complete ignition of the particles of coal, and to permit the whole mass of the prepared fuel when once kindled to beeeineincandescent without crumbling or falling apart. The fuel thus prepared has many advantages over compact anthracite. It is well known that a very considerable qnantityof compact anthracite is required to support combustion, making the heat inconvenient for small rooms, and in moderate weather. The fuel prepared by my method can be consumed in small quantities, and the heat is manageable as in a wood fire. It can also be used advantageously for-kindling compact anthracite.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The application of common salt, either dry or in natural or artificial solutions, in the preparation of fuel from fresh-water peat and fine coal, in the manner and for the purpose set forth.

HEMAN S. LUCAS.

Witnesses:

CHAS. H. LADD, JonN L. HAYES. 

